


Unintended Research

by jaggedwolf



Category: The Strange Case of Starship Iris (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Possibly Unrequited Love, Pre-OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28580004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaggedwolf/pseuds/jaggedwolf
Summary: Some surprises make more sense in retrospect.
Relationships: Arkady Patel/Sana Tripathi, Violet Liu/Arkady Patel
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Unintended Research

Violet didn't mean to lose track of the time. She'd curled up in the engine room with queue of research papers to go through, and suddenly it was hours later, her eyes burning from staring at a screen. Seemed her idea that no one was likely to disturb her in the hottest room on the ship had panned out. 

A thump echoed from outside the room. 

Violet willed herself not to panic. All sorts of noises were perfectly normal to hear in the normal operation of a spaceship. She took a tentative step towards the door. 

Another thump, and then a gasp. Sana's voice. 

Violet relaxed. Sana had probably tripped in the hallway. The Rumor's floors were remarkably uneven in height - Violet had spent what felt like her first month here staring at the floor whenever she so much as left a room. One would think Sana, out of all them, would be least prone to clumsiness here, but given that Violet's watch said it was way too weird a time for any of them to be up, Violet didn't think she could begrudge her too much. 

She walked up to the door, about to slide it open when Sana's voice stopped her.

"Really? Only five more feet to my actual room," Sana dryly remarked. 

Then another small gasp, and more noises and - oh. Those were definitely kissing noises and also moaning noises, the thin door between Violet and Sana filtering out almost no sound. Whoever it was that Sana was kissing, Violet was definitely on Sana's side since she'd like to go to bed and they were right outside her only exit and also she could feel her face starting to flush red from the embarrassment of this entire situation.

The noises stopped. 

"Technically, isn't the entire ship kind of your room?" asked Arkady.

Huh.

Violet's first thought was that she doubted she'd ever get what an out-of-breath, thoroughly-kissed Arkady sounded like out of her mind, because _wow_.

Her second thought was nothing more than stupid, unwarranted disappointment, a spiral her brain would've gladly jumped into if Sana and Arkady hadn't decided to keep talking. Almost as if they were completely unaware Violet was hearing all of this.

"Sure, Kady," Sana replied, the words so fond and soft that Violet felt a pang of guilt at hearing them. 

Violet backed away from the door as far as she could. No more audible noises or voices, now, though whether that meant they'd left or she was simply far enough away was unclear. It was fine. She'd stare at her research articles for another half hour and check if the coast was clear then.

Her eyes stared at the screen, processing nothing. God, of course, it made so much sense, the two of them together. Even more sense that they were hiding it - Arkady's paranoia would make sure of that. Violet shut down the continued feelings of disappointment. She'd thought that-that maybe her interest was reciprocated, that their dumb exchanges had meant something. Silly old Violet, always reading too much into things.

Somehow, she smiled. It was weirdly comforting to know that Arkady and Sana had found each in the chaos of their lives. Even if hearing them wasn't the ideal way to find out. 

Violet ignored the images her mind helpfully supplied at the thought, her cheeks still burning. 


End file.
